Andrew Malcolm

Trump makes impulsive decisions, and the consequences go beyond the damaging departure of Defense Secretary James Mattis, a Marine and veteran who was the wisest and most respected member of the Cabinet.

His approach to Venezuela proves it: President Donald Trump’s more muscular, assertive diplomacy will take time to acquire global credibility after years of former President Barack Obama’s empty words.

U.S. politics are rowdy by nature. Hopefully, few Americans with a real life will pay continuous attention to the 2020 races. Media will provide coverage of the competition among its favored Democrats.

Trump voters in 2016 wanted someone to disrupt Washington and the status quo that ignored their pleas for change. What was not expected was how dramatically the leader of the Republican Party would change the Democratic Party.

The president might resolve to keep his mouth shut some and silencing his cellphone more this year. Pelosi too could work on her public speaking and maybe use notes a bit more to remind of the subject at hand.

Obama got himself in trouble when he drew a red line to prevent Syria from using chemical weapons but then lacked the will to enforce it. Putin brokered a phony Syrian chemical weapons surrender for Obama.

Although it’s early to start thinking about the president’s chances at reelection, the variables are many. Chaos in the Democratic Party, challengers from inside the GOP and economic surprises could be ahead.

The first female speaker, who will turn 79 in March, is facing a growing chorus of demands for change from younger members, the very ones her prodigious fundraising and pugnacious politics helped elect.

The self-described non-politician wasted no motion or words reaching out to the unconvinced. Elections are about divisions, not unity. Trump’s strategy provides a template for his approach to re-election.

Instead of passively sticking to campaign fundraising, as many presidents do in such times when their name is on no ballot, Trump has gone all in to preserve even a slim GOP hold on both houses of Congress.

Some commentators tried to portray Trump’s conversation with Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen as a naïve gesture that humiliated Beijing. Soon after, however, at his Florida resort, Trump was wooing China’s Xi Jinping.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may be the personification of the Washington establishment that Donald Trump campaigned against. But together, they have accomplished a transformation of the judicial system.

Donald Trump didn’t create the anger. He used it, as politicians have for millennia. And with his policies and actions, he’s played on it successfully. Now Democrats have written their own extreme playbook.